One Oxford college has not admitted a single black student in five years.

Data released under the Freedom of Information Act also shows that more than 20 Oxbridge colleges made no offers to black undergraduates last year.

The information, uncovered by Labour MP David Lammy, revealed that Oxford's Merton College has admitted no black students in five years and only three in the last decade.

The breakdown of admissions data, published on Oxford's website, shows just one black Caribbean student was accepted to the university last year out of 35 applications. Meanwhile 77 students of Indian descent out of 466 applications were accepted. Six black Caribbean undergraduates were accepted at Cambridge.

A spokeswoman for Oxford said: "Black students apply disproportionately for the most oversubscribed subjects, contributing to a lower than average success rate for the group as a whole."

"44% of all black applicants apply for Oxford's three most oversubscribed subjects, compared with just 17% of all white applicants. Those subjects are economics and management, medicine and maths.

"This goes a very long way to explaining the group's overall lower success rate."